{"id":11659,"date":"2012-03-30T18:54:32","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T23:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=11659"},"modified":"2012-03-31T14:06:37","modified_gmt":"2012-03-31T19:06:37","slug":"taylors-leadership-carries-jayhawks-to-final-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2012\/03\/30\/taylors-leadership-carries-jayhawks-to-final-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor’s Leadership Carries Jayhawks to Final Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Blake Schuster<\/strong><\/p>\n

New Orleans, La. \u2014 The first time Kevin Young saw his new team scrimmage last summer he stood in awe. The Loyal-Marymount transfer had been used to playing \u201crec ball\u201d, but it was nothing like the structure the Jayhawks were using. There was flow, precision and success. It was during his gawking that one of the players came over and laid down the rules for the newcomer.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTyshawn [Taylor] pulled me to the side and let me know how things were,\u201d Young said. \u201cHe said we win here, this is what we do, and if you want to be a part of this you have to buy into the system and do things the way Kansas does it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four years ago it would have been hard to imagine those words coming out of Taylor\u2019s mouth. It would have been hard to imagine it three years ago, and maybe even two, but one of the most controversial players in Kansas history found a way to stop immaturity from overshadowing his career and start becoming what this year\u2019s Kansas team needed most: A leader.<\/p>\n

It certainly wasn\u2019t a trait that the Kansas coaching staff considered while recruiting Taylor. In fact assistant coach Kurtis Townsend was sure that Bill Self was bringing in Taylor for nothing more than his on court contributions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t sure about his leadership qualities from what I saw,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cBut I was very convinced about his talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Taylor\u2019s talent that drove fans crazy over him. His freshman year he started all but two games at guard while Sherron Collins handled the point. By all accounts Taylor surpassed freshman expectations averaging 9.7 points while Collins and Cole Aldrich did the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n

But after that year things began to spiral downward. Taylor had received suspensions from the team, and was noticeably concerned with the amount of fan support \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014 that he was receiving. Pressure only mounted when Collins graduated and Taylor took over running the offense.<\/p>\n

Taylor gave the ball up 97 times last season, earning him a new nickname, \u201cTurnover Tyshawn\u201d, and it\u2019s one that carried over to this season. Taylor\u2019s confidence and speed often can get him in trouble, and when he does it\u2019s common to see the ball go the other way. So when the fans would get on him Taylor beckoned right back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wasn\u2019t mature enough to handle it at first because he would want to snap back at everyone and fight,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cUp until the point where he started getting comfortable with who he is and how he\u2019s playing, he knew the only way to shut them up was for us to win because we are only going to go as far as he takes us.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Taylor didn\u2019t realize was that as starting point guard of the University of Kansas attention is focused on him at all times, game day or not \u2014 an issue that he\u2019s since resolved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were times throughout his career that he wasn\u2019t as focused as a point guard should be,\u201d Conner Teahan said. \u201cThis past year and a half he\u2019s matured and he really puts the team first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teahan may be as good at evaluating team leadership as any of the coaches he currently plays for. After playing on Kansas teams that boasted Brandon Rush, Mario Chalmers, Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich, and the Morris twins, Teahan understands the mentality that is needed to stand in front of the Jayhawks.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Kansas, Taylor had great relationships with those players too, and while it may have been hidden to the fans he had been preparing to lead this team since day one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never had to be in a position where I was leading,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt was kind of an unspoken thing that I was going to be the leader of this team. Guys just automatically looked up to me to lead them. I took that as a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor called on the knowledge that he gained from the leaders before him. How Collins would take the time in practice to help a teammate improve on a sequence, how the Morris twins carried themselves, and how Chalmers would attack opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cTyshawn learned a lot from Sherron and the Twins,\u201d Teahan said. \u201cHe\u2019s taken the best from all these people and it\u2019s made him into what he is right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s what made Taylor transform from the carefree New Jersey baller, to a well-rounded Kansas basketball star that with two more wins would have a resume worthy of rafter ceremony. It\u2019s what taught him that when a new player walks onto the scene you tell him how it is, and you lay out his options: Play Kansas basketball, or don\u2019t play. And it\u2019s what\u2019s led Taylor to help carry his team to the Final Four and past all of the criticism and doubt that filled his college career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long journey,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cWith all of the ups and downs and the maturity that I\u2019ve grown with over these past four years. I think this year was much different, and I embraced it and enjoyed it and had fun with it, and I have a team that appreciated my leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Blake Schuster New Orleans, La. \u2014 The first time Kevin Young saw his new team scrimmage last summer he stood in awe. The Loyal-Marymount transfer had been used to playing \u201crec ball\u201d, but it was nothing like the structure the Jayhawks were using. There was flow, precision and success. It was during his gawking that one of the players came over and laid down the rules for the newcomer.\u00a0 \u201cTyshawn [Taylor] pulled me to the side and let me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[748,267,558,325,750,708],"class_list":["post-11659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-conner-teahan","tag-kansas-jayhawks","tag-kevin-young","tag-ku-basketball","tag-kurtis-townsend","tag-tyshawn-taylor"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/NCAA20Basketball20Logo16.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}